The Academy Awards of the Political World

I used to watch the Academy Awards to see what the beautiful people would be wearing. Once I began pay attention to the entire process of reviewing, nominating, and voting, though, I lost interest. It seems that an entire segment of our culture revolves around those in the "Industry" patting the backs of their colleagues, who will return the favor when the time is right. Aside from the movies themselves, there is the media industry, print, tv, and internet, jewelry and fashion, and travel. That doesn't take into consideration all of the people watching or reading about it from home. After 9/11, the American people needed to see their celebrities living it up in order to have a sense of normalcy, the Industry decided when someone asked them to cancel their evening festivities. I'm not saying that they were in fact living it up; I'm sure they were still reeling from the tragedy like the rest of the country. But was going through the motions a better path for healing those emotional scars? Do these shows have a purpose beyond their entertainment value? What do they hope to accomplish? What does it contribute to the common good? (If you even think that it allows the masses a break from their average lives, I will unfriend you on Facebook. Not because I disagree with you, but because that rationalization is so yesterday.)

Today the world's leaders gathered at the United Nations building in NYC. Obama gave an interesting speech based on four pillars for creating a better world. The Conservative Right blasted the speech as naive, unpatriotic, anti-American and an exhibition of his socialist tendancies. To tell the truth, I didn't google the Liberal take on it. I did, however, read the speech in it's entirety. My guess for the Liberal reaction would be that Obama was following Roosevelt's footsteps in the scope and intent of the UN, pledging to care for the world's sick and afflicted instead of those who are mistreated by the terrorists who threaten our oil supply, a greater coordination of the world's economies to promote economic opportunity for all, equality among all nations and their leaders. I will never understand how two people interpret the same words in vastly different ways, but neither the reactions or the speech bothered me.

One statement from Obama made me pause: Americans do not support or legitimize the Israeli settlements. I don't pretend to know much about Isreali/Palestinian peace, but I was surprised to hear this. My first thought was of all my Jewish friends, those Jews who voted by a large margin to elect Obama, and their friends and loved ones living in Israel. Did this stance come as a surprise to them as well? Was this the Obama they voted for? Israel's response to this speech stunned me as well: it was a great speech, they are in favor of peace talks without preconditions...There was no mention of Obama's statement on the settlements. Really, no opinion on that?

Finally, Moamar Kadafi, whose name I learned today could be started with a G, K, Q, or A, gave the best speech of all. His concern over rocket threats the US might face due to the presence of the UN moved him to volunteer his hemisphere to host this great institution's campus and meetings. In addition, he was ready to crown Obama our President for life. The fact that Obama is a "son of Africa" meant more to Kadafi than any of Obama's qualifications and achievements. (I will not give my opinion on this except to point you to a Larry King Live transcript from last week with a journalist with a single initial for a first name.) Also, according to Kadafi, world super powers rot.

All in all, Obama's plan sounds great, in theory, Isreal's willingness to cooperate will prove helpful, except for those settlements we won't condone and they won't acknowledge, and Libya wants to protect us from inevitable rocket attack by moving the whole circus closer to home. His home, where he appointed himself ruler for life. Or maybe to Egypt, whose leader recently blamed the Jews for something new that went wrong. At least Obama was right about that: the time for blaming other nations is over; it's time to work together for __________. (Fill in the blank with your charitable cause of choice.)

What did the UN speeches accomplish today? We are again working toward peace in a nation that does not respect our President's power to influence their actions. Isreal, Palestine, does it matter what Obama says to them if neither of them care? Obama was right again: it's time for the nations of the world to be equal, without dominating super powers. Unfortunately for the Middle East peace process, the Israelis and Palestinians took him at his word. Who cares what Obama says about our settlements, he might as well be the leader of the Marshall Islands. (Independence granted in 1994.) Who cares what Obama says about our policy of targeting civilian settlements for violence, he might as well be the ruler of Liechtenstein.

As Disney's movie The Incredibles teaches us, if everybody is special, than no one is special. Similarly, if all nations have equal power on the world stage, than no one has power. The problem with that surfaces when one of those nations makes a poor choice. Who will be there to stop them? The group of equal, but powerless nations?

Maybe the purpose of those awards shows is to drive home the point that some people are special. The rest of the average world views them with awe, wonder, and a little bit of envy. What they do and say, what they wear, how they live and love effects us, even if it's the extreme reaction of avoiding anything that resembles that culture and their lifestyle. For better or worse, super powers play a role in the world political stage and in pop culture.